Pepper vines grow in sun or shade in thickets, floodplain forests, abandoned fields, roadsides, and along streams, from Southeast and East Texas to the Edwards Plateau, and throughout much of the Southeast U.S. It is a high-climbing woody vine that attaches with tendrils. The shiny compound leaves are bi- or tri-pinnate and reddish when new, and the inconspicuous flowers are followed in the fall by clusters of blue-black grape-like fruit. They are extremely adaptable to different soils and light conditions, except very dry sites, and are such prolific growers that they often must be trimmed in the first growing season, and are sometimes even considered pests.